I’m not sure about blogging, to be honest. It seems a bit self-focused at a time when getting past the self is a high priority. But then, maybe it’s a matter of how the tool is used? We shall see. To start with I think I will focus mainly on kyudo, but then probably branching out over time to larger thematic issues in Buddhism, religion, language, or whatever comes up. Perhaps some of this will be useful, or lead to some good conversations. Welcome.
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Mu 
Thank you for the info about the video and pictures. What is the name of the Kyudo magazine and is it at a news stand? I will have my Oka-san pickup one.
You have an interesting site, I will link it, expect more visitors (^_^)
_/|\_
Oh, by the way, do you know the name of the magazine with your article? I’m going to Tokyo next week so would have a chance to look for it at bigger bookstores.
Dear Karamatsu,
Now I’ve read the Complete Works, I wanted to write and say – privately and not for bloglication – how much I have enjoyed your posts and how useful I have found them in my kyudo practice. There is something about the regular dojo life in Japan that strongly appeals to me and that I really miss. I am an old student of O’Brien sensei’s and he, his wife Yukiko and I, used to stay in Kyushu and practice every day at the Kumamoto University dojo with Etsuko and Ryo Ogata sensei ( both Hanshi 8th Dan).
I found then that it was often the casual asides, the dropped hints, the little, intimate corrections that really pushed my practice along. It is that regular, intimate – almost domestic – atmosphere that you communicate so well and that is so difficult to find outside Japan. I left Britain some ten years ago and moved here to an old water mill in Normandy, northern France. I’ve built myself a little dojo – more of a shooting hut – where I can practice on a daily basis and I visit a friend’s dojo about an hour’s drive away on Sunday’s to help with instructing students that come up from Paris. It is ideal in many ways but it lacks exactly the quality of dojo life that your blogs bring to life.
I appreciate your comments and insights on kyudo too and find them genuinely helpful. There is , after all, only the hassetsu and the path – circular or spiral – that we all follow so, in a very real sense we all share the same triumphs, doubts, failures, conjectures and puzzlement.
I font know whether you have come across a verse from the Chinese Book of Odes that runs:
Train your body – that is your bow
Straighten your thoughts – these are your arrows
Set up what is right – here is your target
Now, take aim and shoot. How can you possibly miss?
I love it for what it says about San mi ittai and the way it links the physical with the ethical.
This has turned into a longer thank-you letter than I had meant to write.
Sorry about that,
Best wishes,
T
I know that there are other people who are stimulated and inspired by your writing even if they don’t write to tell you so. Please keep it up.
PS as I said, this is a private communication. I am posting it in comments because I cannot find an email address. Maybe it’s not the blogger’s way. Blogdo?
Hello!
Thanks very much for your comments. I’m never really sure about this blog thing, whether it’s even a good idea, so it’s reassuring to hear that it’s of interest now and then, or maybe even helpful. Also thanks very for this quotation from the Book of Odes. I hadn’t remembered it, and find that description very helpful just now!
In fact I think we’ve probably met. At the Kyoto tournament in 2011, I remember speaking briefly with a British kyudoka who lived in France. How many could there be? I haven’t been there since, but am thinking of going again this year if my work will allow, so perhaps I’ll see you there?
E-mail would be great. The trick is to avoid broadcasting an address in such a way that the account is immediately deluged by advertising for drugs and prizes that only require a bank account number to collect. If WordPress has a way to send private messages I’ll try that! Many thanks and I hope 2016 will be a good year for all of us!